Puffin Rock returns with a new movie, new friends and more

This year marks the 25th anniversary of a studio known worldwide for its breathtaking images: Cartoon Saloon. It's also fitting that this year marks one of the studio's most popular nature-focused properties. Puffin RocksIt's getting a well-deserved revival.

“It's nice for us too because we were there right at the beginning of the studio,” says Jeremy Purcell, director of the brand new animated film. Puffin Rock and the new friends. Purcell, who worked on the Cartoon Saloon feature films The Breadwinner, Song of the Sea And The Secret of KellsHe was also an assistant director Puffin Rocksis the original series from 2015. “So,” he continues, “it’s also our anniversary with Cartoon Saloon.”

Puffin Rocksnow available to stream on Netflix, it aired on Irish channel RTÉjr from 2015 to 2016. Purcell directs from a screenplay by Puffin RocksThis is Sara Daddy. Paul Young and Tomm Moore are producing alongside Cartoon Saloon's Nora Twomey, with Dog Ears' John McDaid and Fionnuala Deane. New friends is self-funded by Cartoon Saloon and Dog Ears, with support from Northern Ireland Screen, Screen Ireland, RTÉ and BBC Alba.

The series follows two puffins, Baba and his big sister Oona, as they live on Puffin Rock with their two parents and numerous animal friends. Baba and Oona swim with sea lions, sing songs in underwater caves, brave treacherous cliffs and befriend shaggy foxes as they give young viewers a front-row seat to the wondrous scenery of their rocky island home. Purcell and Lorraine Lordan, an animation supervisor on the series, never thought they would get the chance to revisit Puffin Rocks after such a long absence.

Eight years later, and Puffin Rock and the new friends is not only the property's first feature film – available to rent or buy on Google TV, Prime Video and Apple TV+ starting today, April 16 – but, as the director teases, the start of something exciting… this is not a farewell film. “This isn’t the last time you’ll see the new friends,” says Purcell, who wasn’t allowed to say more.

Based on the Kidscreen Award-winning and three-time Annie-nominated animated series, Puffin Rock and the new friends follows Baba and Oona's usual crew of pygmy shrew Mossy, rabbit May, baby seal Silky, Flynn the fox and elderly hermit crab Bernie as they welcome new arrivals to the island, including puffin Isabelle and her stepbrother Phoenix. While Isabelle struggles with homesickness, Oona discovers that her community has a new egg, and all of her friends take it upon themselves to protect it. But when a storm hits the typically calm Irish island, the egg goes missing and the entire community must come together to track it down and bring it home safely.

The international cast includes recurring narrator Chris O'Dowd, with Beth McCafferty voicing Oona instead of Kate McCafferty and Jo McDaid voicing Baba instead of Sally McDaid. Returning actors include Anna McDaid (May), Orna Canning (Flynn), Laura McCallan (formerly Silky, now hedgehog Spiky), Jim Craig (Bernie) and Geraldine Cole (Mama). Eva Whittaker joins the cast as Isabelle, along with Euan McGrath as Phoenix and Clara McLaughlin as Silky.

“When the movie came out and we got to come back, it was really nice for us to come back to this project that we loved, with people that we loved,” says Lordan, the film’s assistant director and sequence director. “We were very lucky that so many of our original team were able to be there. For some of them, that is Puffin Rocks A television show was her very first job in the industry. They have made such great progress that we are now taking on their first oversight roles.”

Production is underway Puffin Rock and the new friends started in 2019 using the same 2D animation software Moho and took three years to complete due to COVID. The film was first released in Ireland in June 2023.

“Very early after the show ended there was talk of a movie,” Purcell remembers. “We were at a Christmas party and Maurice Joyce, the director of the TV series, asked me after a few drinks if I would direct it if there was a film. He had some other work to do at the time and wanted to leave it in safe hands.”

He continues: “We should have a year and a half production plan. And then everything that happened happened. We've gotten a few messages over the last few years saying, “Hey, are you still making this movie?”

Lordan chimes in: “Some people were really frustrated that it took so long. But we also had some people who stepped up to help us, which we really appreciated.”

But the film was finished; The first U.S. screening was last month at the New York Children's Film Festival, where tiny dubbing booths were set up at the Irish Arts Center for little would-be voice actors. “The scene starred Oona, Baba and Bernie. So if the children were too young to read the script, we would just have them recite a few lines from Baba, as they are usually quite simple,” says Lordan. “And then the other kids could do Oona, and if the parents were there, they could do Bernie. There was something for everyone.”

Purcell adds: “Ultimately, we need more voice actors.”

Whether that was an incentive for more or not Puffin Rocks The adventures to come remain to be seen.

But there seems to be an issue with getting children familiar with the film Puffin Rocks Revival, if we could be so bold as to call it that. Art director Stefano Scapolan's daughter played a fun role in deciding which rocks to include in the film's landscapes that celebrate the beauty of Ireland. “Stefano and his family are from Spain and his daughter has this collection of stones, so she showed us her collection and explained which ones were from Ireland and which ones weren't,” says Lordan.

Purcell continues: “She was about nine years old at the time and at that point in production everyone was working at home. So she overheard us talking about these stones on a call with her dad and started making some suggestions about what stones and minerals might be suitable for different scenes. One of them was uranium, which we didn't want to use. But it gave us the idea of ​​using quartz in parts of the caves.”

One of the new – and most challenging – locations featured in the Puffin Rocks Film is a bat cave filled with sparkling stalactites and stalagmites.

“This was thanks to a design intern who worked with us in the studio before lockdown,” notes Purcell. “She was just traveling for a week, exploring rocks and caves and everything from all over the world. And then me, Lorraine and Stefano got together and the intern wanted to give a 45 minute presentation about all these types of stones. It took maybe three years of constant work in different departments to figure out how these glitters would work.”

Although it is a little less strenuous, the flowers and foliage can be found in it Puffin RocksThe meadow and undergrowth also had to be precise, and the team prides itself on the attention to the smallest detail.

“We show some yellow dandelions in the film, and if you look closely at night, they are all closed,” says Purcell. “Then they opened again during the day. It turns out that these flowers only open during the day and close again at night. So we went through and checked every single dandelion to make sure they were all doing the same thing in every image. No one really sees it or notices it, but it was important to us to be specific. After the New York screening, an audience member, a gardener, came up to us and said, 'You did a really good job.'”

Puffin Rocks has always excelled at conveying an organic, naturalistic feel, whether in the movements of the series' characters or in the variety of flora and fauna that dot the hills of the animal caves. Although Lordan notes that creative liberties have been taken in some cases, always aiming to “connect reality with story,” accuracy is at the heart of it all Puffin Rocks Team creates. That may be why Cartoon Saloon saw the value in revisiting the property all these years later. But it's definitely why the Heritage Council in Ireland approached the studio about incorporating the series into the nature curriculum.

“They ended up creating a brochure that was maybe 30 to 40 pages long Puffin Rocks Artwork to illustrate paths and plants to look for and things like that,” shares Purcell.

Lordan adds: “It’s nice to see it come out of the screen and into the world.”

Over the years, Purcell and Lordan say they and their entire crew have become intimately familiar with Ireland's geology and natural world. Purcell even goes so far as to say, “Maybe I know more than I really need.” But it's an experience neither wants to miss, and both are equally excited to explore new territory with Baba and Oona.

“We’re just so happy about what it means to people,” Lordan said. “We're surprised and so pleased and people saying, 'You don't know what this show means to us,' it's gotten us through some tough times.” Something like that gives you new strength to get back to work .”

Victoria Davis is a full-time freelance journalist and part-time otaku with an affinity for all things anime. She has reported on a variety of stories, from activist news to entertainment. For more information about her work, visit victoriadavisdepiction.com.